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The Fight for Paid Maternity Leave

During the discussion here last week about Britain’s new paternity-leave policy, many of you asked who was leading the charge to bring the U.S. in line with other countries.

One group is MomsRising, which was created in 2006 as a grass-roots way to bring “important motherhood and family issues to the forefront of the country’s awareness,” its founders say. Among the victories it has notched so far: helping to win “paid family leave in New Jersey, Washington, and paid sick days in Milwaukee,” and helping to “pass legislation which removes highly toxic phthalates from young children’s toys and products.”

The group’s agenda is laid out in its “Motherhood Manifesto,” where each letter of the word M.O.T.H.E.R.S. stands for a different goal. The M is for “Maternity and Paternity” leave, and the MomsRising Web site notes:

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t have paid leave other than Australia (which does give a full year of guaranteed unpaid leave to all women, compared with the only 12 weeks of unpaid leave given to those who work for companies with more than 50 employees in the U.S.). A full 163 countries give women paid leave with the birth of a child. Fathers often get paid leave in other countries as well — 45 countries give fathers a right to paid parental leave.

By way of example, our close neighbor to the north, Canada, gives the birth mother 15 weeks of partial paid leave for physical recovery, and then also gives another 35 weeks of partial paid parental leave that has to be taken before the child turns 1. These 35 weeks of parental leave can be taken by the mother or the father, or can be shared between the two. The pay during the 50 weeks total of leave related to a new child is 55 percent of the average gross salary over the past 26 calendar weeks. All in all, there are 50 weeks of partly paid leave available for new Canadian parents to spend with their child.

Sweden, with about a year of paid family leave and some time specifically reserved for fathers, is often used as the example of a model policy. Not surprisingly, with this support, Ann Crittenden writes in “The Price of Motherhood,” “Swedish women on average have higher incomes, vis-à-vis men, than women anywhere else in the world.” Yes, Sweden has about a full year of paid family leave.

There is one American state that does insure six weeks of paid time off for new parents — California. The Paid Family Leave Act was passed by its Legislature in 2002, as a provision of the state disability fund, which is financed by employee contributions. MomsRising is trying to make that the norm in the other 49 states, for both mothers and fathers.

About

We're all living the family dynamic, as parents, as children, as siblings, uncles and aunts. At Motherlode, lead writer and editor KJ Dell’Antonia invites contributors and commenters to explore how our families affect our lives, and how the news affects our families—and all families. Join us to talk about education, child care, mealtime, sports, technology, the work-family balance and much more